15. Rotation of Axes

This lesson will discuss rotation of the coordinate axes about the origin. Something like this:

Rotation of Axes

Consider a point P(x, y), and let’s suppose that the axes have been rotated about origin by an angle θ in the anticlockwise direction. What will be the coordinates of the point P, with respect to the new axes?

To find the new coordinates, we’ll find the distances of the point from the rotated axes. Let’s do the calculations. Let (x, y) be the original coordinates and (X, Y) be the final ones. The following figure well help us.

It’ll get a little messy. Let’s zoom in a bit. I’ve labeled the points nicely – have a close look.

Told you it’ll get messy. Let’s begin with the calculations: PA = x and PB = y (the old coordinates). Next, PC = X, PD = Y (the new coordinates). I’ve dropped perpendiculars from D to the old X axis, and to PB (DE and DF respectively).

And that’s it! We’ve obtained the relation between the old coordinates (x and y) and the new ones (X and Y).

Lesson Summary

Let P(x, y) be a point in the X-Y plane. If the axes are rotated by an angle θ in the anticlockwise direction about the origin, then the coordinates of P with respect to the rotated axes will be given by the following relations:

x = Xcosθ – Ysinθ

y = Xsinθ + Ycosθ.

where (X, Y) denote the new coordinates of P.

The next lesson will discuss a few examples related to translation and rotation of axes. See you there!